State v. Gause

2018 Ohio 313, 105 N.E.3d 485
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 26, 2018
DocketNO. 27527
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 2018 Ohio 313 (State v. Gause) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Gause, 2018 Ohio 313, 105 N.E.3d 485 (Ohio Ct. App. 2018).

Opinions

WELBAUM, P.J.

*486{¶ 1} Plaintiff-appellant, the State of Ohio, appeals from the judgment of the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas granting defendant-appellee Deonte L. Gause's motion to dismiss the indicted charge of having weapons while under disability. For the reasons outlined below, the judgment of the trial court will be reversed and the matter will be remanded for further proceedings.

Facts and Course of Proceedings

{¶ 2} On January 24, 2017, the Montgomery County Grand Jury returned an indictment charging Gause with single counts of carrying concealed weapons in violation of R.C. 2923.12(A), improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle in violation of R.C. 2923.16(B), and having weapons while under disability in violation of R.C. 2923.13(A)(2). The charge of having weapons while under disability was predicated on a prior juvenile adjudication for rape that Gause committed in 2009.

{¶ 3} Gause pled not guilty to all the charges and subsequently filed a motion to dismiss the charge of having weapons while under disability. In his motion to dismiss, Gause argued that the statute governing the offense of having weapons while under disability, R.C. 2923.13(A)(2), violates due process to the extent that the statute allows the offense to be predicated on a juvenile adjudication. In support of this argument, Gause cited to the Supreme Court of Ohio's decision in State v. Hand , 149 Ohio St.3d 94, 2016-Ohio-5504, 73 N.E.3d 448, which held that a statute violates the Due Process Clauses of the Ohio and United States Constitutions if it "treat[s] a juvenile adjudication as a previous conviction that enhances either the degree of or the sentence for a subsequent offense committed as an adult." Id. at ¶ 37.

{¶ 4} The trial court agreed with Gause's argument and held that R.C. 2923.13(A)(2) was unconstitutional "to the extent that the statute provides that Gause's juvenile adjudication may serve [as] an essential element of the offense of having weapons under disability, a third degree felony." Decision, Entry and Order Dismissing Count 2 of the Indictment (March 27, 2017), Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas Case No. 2016-CR-3917, Docket No. 24, p. 2. In so holding, the trial court explained that: "If it violates due process to permit a juvenile adjudication to enhance the degree of an offense, or to enhance the punishment for an offense, it follows that it likewise violates due process to permit a juvenile adjudication to establish a third degree felony on the basis of conduct which would otherwise not be a crime." Id. Accordingly, the trial court dismissed Gause's indicted charge of having weapons while under disability.

{¶ 5} The State now appeals from the trial court's dismissal, raising a single assignment of error for review.

Assignment of Error

{¶ 6} The State's assignment of error is as follows:

THE TRIAL COURT MISAPPLIED THE HOLDING IN STATE V. HAND WHEN IT DISMISSED COUNT TWO OF DEONTE GAUSE'S INDICTMENT, WHICH CHARGED HIM
*487WITH HAVING WEAPONS WHILE UNDER DISABILITY.

{¶ 7} Under its sole assignment of error, the State contends that the trial court's decision granting Gause's motion to dismiss the charge of having weapons while under disability should be reversed because in ruling on the motion, the trial court erroneously relied on Hand , 149 Ohio St.3d 94, 2016-Ohio-5504, 73 N.E.3d 448. We agree.

{¶ 8} In Hand , the Supreme Court of Ohio ruled that it is an unconstitutional violation of due process to use a juvenile adjudication as the equivalent of an adult conviction to enhance a penalty for a later crime, because, unlike an adult conviction, a juvenile adjudication does not involve the right to a trial by jury. Hand at ¶ 37-38. In so holding, the Supreme Court struck down R.C. 2901.08(A), a statute which specifically provided that a prior "adjudication as a delinquent child or as a juvenile traffic offender is a conviction for a violation of the law or ordinance for purposes of determining the offense with which the person should be charged and, if the person is convicted of or pleads guilty to an offense, the sentence to be imposed[.]" Id. at paragraph one of the syllabus and ¶ 9. The Supreme Court held "that R.C. 2901.08(A) violates the Due Process Clauses of Article I, Section 16 of the Ohio Constitution and the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution because it is fundamentally unfair to treat a juvenile *488adjudication as a previous conviction that enhances either the degree of or the sentence for a subsequent offense committed as an adult." Id. at ¶ 37. Accordingly, the Supreme Court of Ohio made it clear in Hand that "a juvenile adjudication is not a conviction of a crime and should not be treated as one." Id. at ¶ 38.

{¶ 9} As previously noted, the trial court in this case relied on Hand to dismiss Gause's weapons under disability charge on grounds that the statute governing the offense, R.C. 2923.13(A)(2), unconstitutionally permits a juvenile adjudication to serve as an element of the offense. However, two months after the trial court's decision, we held the following in State v. McComb , 2017-Ohio-4010, 91 N.E.3d 255 (2d Dist.) :

We do not * * * find that the Supreme Court of Ohio's holding in Hand renders the weapons under disability statute McComb was convicted under, R.C. 2923.13(A)(2), unconstitutional on due process grounds. R.C. 2923.13(A)(2) provides, in relevant part, that:
[N]o person shall knowingly acquire, have, carry, or use any firearm or dangerous ordnance, if * * * the person is under indictment for or has been convicted of any felony offense of violence or has been adjudicated a delinquent child for the commission of an offense that, if committed by an adult, would have been a felony offense of violence.
(Emphasis added.)
Pursuant to the statute, a violation of R.C. 2923.13(A)(2) requires an offender to either have a prior conviction or a prior juvenile adjudication. Unlike the statute that was struck down in Hand , the statute at issue, R.C. 2923.13(A)(2), does not treat a prior juvenile adjudication as a conviction.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Gause
2018 Ohio 313 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2018)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2018 Ohio 313, 105 N.E.3d 485, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-gause-ohioctapp-2018.